Top Trends from Toy Fair 2013

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It's hard to believe that just a few short weeks ago the December issue was on newsstands featuring the "Best Toy Awards for 2012". Fast forward to present day, and I'm back at Toy Fair looking for the best toys for holiday 2013! After two days of canvassing the floors of the Javits Center (host for the annual Toy Fair), I've got some exciting trend forecasts to share.

Return of the Classics - The proverbial "everything old is new again" is very apt this year. Classic toys allow parents to recall their youths and kids an opportunity to play with toys what've stood the test of time.

Construction Toys - We all know kids love to build, and this year we saw a range of media, sizes, and shapes for construction. Whether your child builds to destroy or to display, he or she'll get hours of tangible hand-eye coordination practice and build creative skills.

If you've seen a four year old whizzing through screens on an iPad, you know little tykes are comfortable with technology! I saw a host of games and toys centered on iPads and tablets, and others that simply augment the fun and learning with integrated apps.

Interactive Elements - Kids become a part of the action with these dynamic, multi-faceted toys. To enhance game play, children can draw on the environments they're in or their own physicality.

Value Added Toys - I saw a surge of products that offer extended play time, repeated ormodified use, or other elements to keep kids occupied for longerwithout dipping back into your pockets.